THE CHALLENGEAntrhopology of a contemporary desert

A FILM BY YURI ANCARANI

________________________________France, Italy | ov. Arabic | 70' | 2016

In THE CHALLENGE, director Yuri Ancarani crosses the Persian Gulf to accompany a falconer to animportant competition. Among SUVs, Lamborghini, private jets and Mad Max-like dune bashingcontests, the film tells the story of an intense weekend in the desert.

SYNOPSISFalconry has a history that stretches back over 40 centuries. In the West it was a prevailing passion ofthe medieval aristocracy, but its prestige continues undiminished in contemporary Arab culture. Threeyears of observing this form of hunting in the field have made it possible to capture the spirit of atradition that today allows its practitioners to keep a close rapport with the desert, despite theirpredominantly urban lifestyle. Our guide to how they cross that threshold is a falconer taking his birdsto compete in a tournament in Qatar. In the glaring light of an empty landscape, following flight linesand lures, the film recounts a strange kind of “desert weekend”, in which technological andanthropological microcosms hang in the air, like the falcon, drifting on the irreversible currents ofimages.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT“The Challenge” is a complex film, even if its viewing is fluid and accessible. Getting to that desert issimple, you take a flight, a guide, you go for a two or three hours tour, you ride a camel and then yougo back to the city. Stopping and looking carefully is almost impossible. I realised that the life in thesenew metropolis like Dubai or Doha is for everyone, but not for Bedouins, who keep loving their desertand need to live it fully and intensely. It is a matter of tradition.

YURI ANCARANIBorn in Ravenna in 1972, Yuri Ancarani is an Italian visual artist. His work has been acknowledged bothin the realms of cinema and of contemporary art. His last five films have been shown and awarded inmore than a hundred international festivals - including Locarno, Venice and Toronto - and in the mostimportant museums of the world, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Biennale, the GuggenheimMuseum in New York and he recently had a solo show at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY Séance | 2014, Documentary, Italy, 30’, Cinema du RéelSan Siro | 2014, Documentary, Italy, 26’, Locarno Film FestivalDa Vinci | 2012, Documentary, Italy, 25’, Festa del Cinema di RomaPiattaforma Luna | 2011, Documentary, Italy, 25’, Mostra del Cinema di VeneziaIl Capo | 2010, Documentary, Italy, 15’, Mostra del Cinema di Venezia

FESTIVAL AND AWARDS69th Locarno Film Festival | Filmmakers of the Present | Special Jury Prize Ciné+Manaki Brothers – International Cinematographers' Film FestivalFestival International du Film de La Roche-Sur-YonViennale – Vienna International Film FestivalFree Zone Film FestivalSevilla Festival de Cine EuropeoLa Mostra de Cine Baix – Mostra de Cinema Internacional del Baix LlobregatIDFA – International Documentary Film Festival AmsterdamFestival Internacional de Cine de Mar del PlataTorino Film FestivalLo Schermo dell'Arte Film FestivalMuestra de Cine de LanzaroteFCZ – Festival de Cine de ZaragozaDubai International Film Festival

CREDITS

YEAR | 2016PRODUCTION COUNTRIES| France, ItalyRUNTIME | 69’ORIGINAL LANGUAGE | ArabicSUBTITLES | English, French DIRECTOR | Yuri AncaraniCINEMATOGRAPHY | Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna, Jonathan RicquebourgSOUND | Mirco MencacciSOUND EDITOR | Piergiorgio de LucaEDITOR | Yuri AncaraniSOUNDTRACK | Lorenzo Senni, Francesco FantiniSOUNDTRACK EXECUTIVE PRODUCER | Antonella Boccanelli RodriguezASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR | Caterina ViganòPRODUCERS | Christophe Gougeon (Atopic), Fabrizio Polpettini & Pierre Malachin (La Bête), Tommaso Bertani (Ring Film) in association with Sébastien Andrès & Olivier Burlet (Michigan Films), Marco Alessi (Dugong Production), Abir & Mo Hashem (Solo Films).IN ASSOCIATION WITH | Arte France, La Lucarne, Martine Saada, Fabrice Puchault, Alex SzalatCOMMISSIONING EDITOR | Luciano RigoliniWITH THE PARTICIPATION OF | CNC- Centre National de la Cinématographie et del l'Image Animèe, Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo – Direzione Generale CinemaAND THE SUPPORT OF | Region Ile-de-france, Procirep-Angoa, Centre d'arte Contemporain Genève, Beursschowburg Bruxelles, Biorem Engineering, Galleria Isabella Bortolozzi, Galleria Zero..GRAPHIC CONCEPT | Apart Collective

CAST

KHALED AL-KAJANASSER AL-KAABI SOUL RIDERS QATARKHALED AL-HAMMADIOSAMA YACOUBRACHID MESFER HAMAD AL-SHAHWANI AL-HAJRI

HADI GHEDIR AL-HAJRIHAMAD SAOUD AL-SHAHWANI AL-HAJRIJABER GHANEM ALI AL-FAYED AL-HAJRIABDULLAH ALI AL-YAFEINAWAF ABDULLAHRACHID AL-NOAIMY

CONTACTS

Slingshot Films info@slingshotfilms.itwww.slingshotfilms.it